Matteo Colombo – the ‘Lonesome Rider’ with a Camera

Like a lone wolf, accompanied only by his camera, Matteo Colombo is on the prowl through the wilderness for fascinating snapshots. With his unique motifs he not only shows
us the world from its most beautiful side, but without us having to set foot outside. No, we would also like to know that we have his works in large format on our walls
when we explore this unique planet full of zest for action.

The Sydney Opera House, Burj al-Arab in Dubai, Colosseum in Rome and Brooklyn Bridge in New York – Matteo Colombo has already had all of them in front of his lens. But what accounts for this
very special magic of his commercial travel photographs and distinguishes him from other photographers?

It’s hard to believe, but Matteo actually has a degree as an electrical engineer and worked as technical director of a design company for many years.
Photography was merely a hobby for a long time, before the passion seized him and he boldly opted against the life that he knew until then. Driven by the desire
to discover the world and his dedication to photography, he simply blossomed into a professional. In the meantime, the native of Italy from near Milan spends a majority
of his time abroad in order to constantly photograph new places of interest.

You can also see that Matteo has chosen his own path and pursues what he loves in his images. It is not always the same pictures of famous landmarks, but clearly the works of a pro.
The talented photographer whips out his camera at the right time and right place, takes pictures from new perspectives with natural lighting conditions and shows us the world in a way,
like we have never seen before. Some of his pictures look as surreal and beautiful as from another world.

And so it was very clear to us: we want to get to know the man behind the camera and see more from his artistic repertoire!

“Pursue your passion, there is nothing more motivating than that to lead you to success.”

In 80 photos around the world

Matteo Colombo is a true adventurer. With his photographic souvenirs he creates a colourful map in our minds, consisting of pictures of the world’s most beautiful spots. And not only that:
when looking at his motifs we get the feeling of standing on a hillside ourselves and experiencing the sunrise above the temples of Myanmar, diving with turtles in the Caribbean
and looking from a helicopter at the paradisiacal islands of Bora Bora.

At the beginning of his career as a professional freelance photographer he was primarily able to get enthusiastic about uninhabited landscape photographs. Today Matteo
deliberately incorporates locals as well as models in his pictures, which makes them seem more authentic and conveys an impression of the culture of the country from which the image
stems to the viewer. His outstanding night, aerial and panoramic photographs are an absolute highlight in his portfolio and the starting point for a spectacular wall decoration.

For Matteo Colombo, to be creative means to combine imagination and technical skills with each other in order to transform the scenarios that is presented to him
into a captivating motif. His images (primarily from categories such as travel, cities, people, nature, plants and animals) are therefore not merely commercial holiday
photographs, but also fulfil an artistic aspiration. In this regard he is most inspired by photographs from photojournalist Steve McCurry as well landscape photographers Charlie Waite,
Joe Cornish and Michael Fatali.

Understatement is the new drama

With his evocative photographs Matteo Colombo pursues the goal of conveying the essence of the most heavenly spots on earth to the viewer. This also includes the most
varying cultural aspects, his travel experience and the interaction between people and the environment. As a professional in this field he has frequently been able to
contribute pictures as covers for the Lonely Planet travel guide, National Geographic magazine and many other travel guides, books and magazines.

His unique style has brought the experienced photographer where he is today. Yet he would not like to commit himself to a stylistic direction, because he is of the
opinion that defining a style is as if one would draw boundaries around him. But Matteo prefers to have his style spontaneously and repeatedly redefined through his imagination.

Of course, anyone who takes their pictures in the most fabulous holiday regions only needs to subject their photographs to minor postproduction. Matteo is also evidently
no aficionado of conspicuous corrections and filters, because they adulterate the character of his works. But that is not very easy, since as a travel photographer he is
primarily dependent on natural lighting conditions. And although natural light often has a greater effect than light boxes and spotlights, he still has to wait every time
for precisely the right moment for his picture.

And he has always succeeded in that up to now! The works by our photographer immediately draw all eyes as a wall decoration and – exactly as intended by Matteo – arouse the wanderlust in us.

“My goal is to create images that are able to transmit the beauty and the sense of wonder I experience in first person when I visit a location.”

From snapshot to professional photograph

On the one hand, as a travel photographer Matteo would not like to do without professional equipment, but on the other hand he must carefully consider every piece of baggage when
he climbs the stratovolcano Mount Ngauruhoe in New Zealand. While doing so, he never leaves the house without his digital single-lens reflex camera, and he can also hardly do without his tripod.

For some of his photographs Matteo needs no more than a few minutes. Particularly in the early morning hours and in the evening at sunset, perfect lighting conditions often prevail.
Afterwards, with a few flicks of the wrist the talented photographer conjures up a picture from the RAW file which definitely deserves a place on the wall as a large-format canvas.

Matteo devotes quite a bit more time to other motifs. As he reveals to us, he seamlessly compiles his spectacular panoramic photos from several individual pictures. On the other hand, night photographs require
elaborate postproduction in order to reduce the image noise. It is particularly adventuresome when he shoots aerial photographs from a bird’s eye perspective. He books private helicopter flights for this purpose.

Matteo always flies with open doors so that no glass is reflected between his camera lens and the motif, and at the same time he gives the pilot instructions in order to photograph from the
perfect position. He has no fear of heights. Yet several hundred metres above the ground he still prefers to check whether his seatbelt is really secured.

“Traveling in Myanmar was really an eye-opening experience, I learned how little we need to be happy and to live a serene life.”

In the footsteps of an adventurer

The star of our artist’s story is on the go all over the world as a commercial travel photographer. He does not have a fixed workplace. Instead, he always has to adapt
to new circumstances. In this regard he is most impressed by Myanmar in Southeast Asia, because it is simply “real”. According to Matteo, here you can still find life
far away from tourism, hospitality and magical spots such as the Valley of Temples in Bagan.

Behind the profession of photographer is a lot of work which an amateur does not see at first glance. First of all, Matteo has to plan his travel route, book flights
and accommodations, contact local guides and organise various shootings. As a result, quite often he spends more time with preparations than with the journey itself.
But he thinks thorough preparation is imperative in order to be able to focus entirely on photographing at his travel destination.

Nevertheless, during his career as a photographer he has simply learned that everything cannot be planned. Some models do not even show up for the shootings,
and you can seldom rely on the weather.

But Matteo has stayed with it, because perseverance and hard work ultimately paid off for him – which naturally also becomes
noticeable in the number of his sales with Posterlounge.

Last but not least

Matteo’s life story is absolutely inspiring: how he took the reins in his own hands, made his passion a profession, set off with camera and map, and didn’t regret that for one day.
Through his professional photographs we have been able to accompany him on his numerous trips to exotic locations.
So we followed his tracks – from the busy streets of Barcelona to the summit of Mount Doom, just in time for sunrise!

If nothing else, Matteo also has a great talent for marketing himself, whereby he landed as an artist with Posterlounge. We are very grateful for this, because now we can confidently leave our camera at home during the next holiday. We can simply order the most beautiful pictures on various materials here in the Posterlounge shop. See for yourself!